Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Musings on biotech scams:

It’s funny that you should mention GENR insofar as it was my biggest-ever gain in the stock market (in the low seven figures).

let me guess you sold it all at the high LOL

Not quite, but almost; all told, it was a 20-bagger. I bought at $0.20-0.30 in mid 2003 when GENR released impressive data for Squalamine in AMD from a small phase-2 study. (This was before Macugen and Lucentis had shown any comparable data and the only approved treatment for AMD was the barbaric and ineffective Visudyne.)

I sold in late 2004—about 1.5 years later—when it seemed that the stunning results from the initial phase-2 study were not going to be reproducible and the CEO began touting the use of Squalamine in other indications such as cancer and obesity (similar to the way PPHM has touted Bavituximab as a treatment for manifold and disparate diseases including cancer, HIV, and HCV).

My rationale for selling GENR in late 2004 is posted in #msg-4454949. Initially, I took a lot of flak from posters on this board for abruptly “turning” on the company.

In retrospect, GENR was an excellent learning experience, and it was humbling to discover that I scored a big gain by betting on a company that turned out to have nothing of value. Regrettably, there are many more biotech companies like GENR in the market for investor money than there are legitimate ones, so avoiding scams is an obligate task for anyone who hopes to be successful at biotech investing over a period of many years.

Among the other scam biotech companies I’ve flagged on this board—before they were commonly viewed as scams by other posters—are RPRX, Nastech/MRNA, HEB, Artes Medical, ILE (now reincarnated as FCSC), Pipex/AEN, and (most recently) PPHM.

Could a company I say is a scam turn out to be wildly successful? Yes, of course it could; however, my track record in this regard is pretty good and is archived on this board for anyone who cares to dig it out.

Good luck with your PPHM investment.